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Design Trends for 2019 Kitchen

Home Furniture & Appliances, Home Improvement / By /

Design Trends for 2019

Design trends for 2019 are here and it’s the time of year when a lot of people are starting to think about making some changes to their home. Today we’re focusing on the kitchen. Refreshing your kitchen to make it feel new again can make such a difference. Listed below are some of the popular kitchen design trends for 2019.

Matte Black Cabinetry 

This is a trend that’ll be making it’s mark in 2019. You’ll start to see this very modern twist to kitchen cabinets. And another trend that often goes along with this is eco-friendly materials.

Modern kitchen
Modern kitchen
Concealed Vent

What a great way to achieve a seamless look with your vent. This works with traditional and modern kitchens. 

Wood & White 

There’s defiantly something great about clean white or wood cabinetry, it can really open up your kitchen. And it goes so well with natural wood accents. This looks great in smaller kitchens but can also look fantastic in any size kitchen. 

Wood and White Kitchen
Wood and White Kitchen
Industrial Countertops 

It seems that 2019 will be there year for industrial countertops and we can see why. They change the look of your kitchen almost instantly. And you’re able to use a number of different materials to achieve this look. 

Handmade Tiles

Having a unique look to any room in your home is wonderful and can really show your personality. Try handmade or organic tiles, you’ll have something that no one else will. 

Use of Wood 

Wood panels, or countertops or floors can create a very warm look. Whether you choose to use a lot or a little, you’ll be making a statement, creating a unique and warm space.

Bright wooden kitchen
Bright wooden kitchen
Digital Technology 

In the 21 century we have a seen a lot of advancement when it comes to technology and those advancements just keep coming. And our kitchen appliances are catching up. You can now get almost anything to target your needs. Some examples are, wifi-enabled espresso machines, wine fridges that dispense wine, the possibilities are truly endless. 

Contact Lori VanDinther 

With so many possibilities and the market gearing up for Spring and Summer it might be time for you to give me a call or email me. We can go over your wish list and find your dream home. 

Saving On Energy In The home

Home Furniture & Appliances / By /

There is perhaps nothing more annoying than receiving a high energy bill, especially when you have had as many heat waves as we have had this summer.  While some of this might be obvious, we thought it might be a good idea give refresher on a couple ways to cut energy costs.

  1. Close the blinds and curtains

    While it may make it a little dark in the home, closing the blinds and curtains will keep the sun and any excessive heat out. This action will in turn prevent the air conditioner from having to run more frequently and for longer periods of time. If your home doesn’t have an air conditioner, it will also help keep the room temperature at bay in the home.

  2. Appliances

    Try running them on off peak times. Hydro companies charge less during these hours – check your service provider for rates and times.

    Also, if budget permits, consider purchasing or replacing your appliances with green energy efficient products.  You may also find that there are added incentives and discounts from manufacturers when purchasing such products.

  3. Power Bars, electronics and lights

    Make sure to turn off power bars, unplug electronics and turn off lights when not in use. You may be surprised at the amount of energy being used by them.  Making this simple change will help to decrease your energy usage, helping to lower your costs.

  4. Water Heater

Turn down your water heater! While  we all enjoy having hot water, you may be surprised to find that you can still achieve the water temperature you desire even with your water heater set at a lower temperature. Remember: keeping it at a high temperature requires a significant more amount of energy.

  1. Maintenance

    Maintaining your home, its devices and appliances play an important role in energy efficiency. When your appliances aren’t maintained properly, they don’t run as efficiently and this can contribute to increased energy costs.

For coupons and more tips on saving energy visit www.saveonenergy.ca.  This is a great resource for any home owner.

Buying Major Home Appliances

Home Furniture & Appliances / By /

Nothing in life is ever straight forward. For an instance, take the simple task of how to buy major home appliances. If buying a home wasn’t stressful enough, now you need to get all the appliances. So you know what you need, you know your budget, but how do you select the best product for the least amount of money? How do you avoid potential pitfalls?

Major Appliances

Essentially, you have to do some product research! If done correctly, it could save you significant amount of money and time down the road if the appliance had to be returned, serviced, whatever.

Basically, when it comes to buying major appliances such as the fridge, stove, dishwasher, washer and dryer here is what you need to know.

Name brands can be misleading. You may think because it’s a top of the line brand it will perform better when compared to other brands, but that’s not always the case. If you know what functionality you need, you can try to find a product with decent ratings that gives you what you need for less money. Don’t buy into the looks or brands.

Home Appliances brands

Read the Reviews! Learn from other people’s experiences with the appliance. Did they report any problems? This will be the ultimate test, because chances are if it happened to them, it will probably happen to you. Avoid it. If you can.

Understand what essential features/functionalities you need from each appliance. If you can avoid having certain features, you could save money. It’s easy to get sold on features you may never use or need, so bring a friend along. Don’t buy on impulse, just shop and inform the sales person that you’re simply browsing and comparing prices.

Mind the appliances’s dimension and where you plan to put them. You don’t wanna order something that’s not going to be able to fit through the door by an inch or two.

Look for Energy Star rating as a good indicator of appliance’s energy efficiency. When it comes to washer, the front load is more efficient. Dishwashers can be set to run at night when energy costs less.

Energy star

Buy manual over electronic where possible. The trend towards the nice looking, computerized digital dash brings some problems with it. Harder to fix if the sensitive controls damage. And a lot can damage them, heat, water, etc.

Washer digital dash

Find out about your warranty, you don’t normally need extended warranties as they usual are a waste of money. Also, if you need repairs who do you deal with? You want to be able to call up the service department and scheduled a service call in a reasonably quick time.

Start your search online. This will help you narrow down the list of potential appliances. Use the website’s catalog filters to narrow the results. Once you have a list of products you want to seriously explore, you can visit the actual stores, check it out in person, ask about delivery, installation options.

Buying home appliances is a big purchase and isn’t something you can quickly bring home or return back to the store. So spend some time researching now and avoid the potential problems in the future.